After months of anticipation, round 1 of the inaugural Shanghai domestic league kicked off on a chilly but clear Saturday at the SRFC. With a stiff breeze favouring the refinery end of the ground, a loyal crowd of supporters joined the three newly formed teams, the West Shanghai Dockers, North Shanghai Crows and Shanghai Eagles. As planned, it was the united nations of AFL with players from Australia, China, Ireland, US, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Papa New Guinea pulling on the boots.

Eagles vs Dockers
In a frenetic opening half, the Dockers jumped the Eagles with two quick goals within the first 5 minutes and the Eagles faithful were looking nervous. Andrew Unsworth “Swatta”, Steve Cliff and Asher Esakoff were dominating through the middle however after as the Eagles centre line became more accountable, the game slowly swung in the Eagles favour with Peter Hunter busy up forward and goals to Brodie McDougall, Jason “Superboot” Grant and Liam “Jimmy” Collins to close off the half. The second half was an arm wrestle with “Qantas mark of the day” going to Kiwi from the Dockers who leapt on McDougall’s shoulders to take a spectacular mark. In the end the Eagles pulled away with some late goals in what was a great contest.

HALF FULL TIME
Eagles 3.1 19 8.7 55
Dockers 2.2 14 3.4 22

Eagles Goals Jason Grant 4, Brodie McDougall 2, Geoff Tink 1, Liam Collins 1
Best Players Will Abbott, Jason Grant, Geoff Tink, Brodie McDougall

Dockers Goals Simon Angus 1, Andrew Unsworth 1, Aaron Smith “Kiwi” 1
Best Players Asher Esakoff, Simon Angus, Andrew Unsworth


Dockers vs Crows
The North Shanghai Crows were still smarting from the loss to the Shanghai Eagles and came out hard with the wind. Early goals to Sanga, Jack and Dave Lucas saw the Crows pull out to a handy early lead. However, Dockers “Supercoach” Ollie Ward and his right hand man Luke Eddy swung some pivotal match winning moves, with Ivo “Chop” Kavelj moving to full back, Kiwi moving up the ground leaving David Ong one on one in the goal square and Ash, Simo and Steve Cliff playing in the middle. With nothing in it early in the second half, the Dockers pulled off a historic win much to the delight to the players and supporters.

HALF FULL TIME
Dockers 2.4 16 6.11 47
Crows 3.4 22 4.5 29

Dockers Goals Aaron Smith 2, Asher Esakoff 2, Steve Cliff 1, Simon Angus 1
Best Players Asher Esakoff, Aaron Smith, Steve Cliff

Crows Goals David Lucas 2, Andrew Sawitsch 1, Jack 1
Best Players David Lucas, Andrew Sawitsch

Shanghai AFL Round 1 Premiership Ladder

Played Won Lost Points For Against %
Eagles 2 2 0 8 102 58 175.8
Dockers 2 1 1 4 69 84 82.1
Crows 2 0 2 0 65 94 69.1


Thankyou to the West Coast Eagles FC, Fremantle FC and Adelaide FC for your involvement in the first Shanghai AFL league. This competition has taken a new level of professionalism with the long term partnership with these three great AFL clubs. Thankyou to our major sponsors The Camel and Just Beer for your continued support. A special thanks to Steve Farquer from Qantas and to Edsys Computers for your support for the development of AFL in China. Thanks to Tony from the Camel for umpiring and to all the loyal supporters who attended this great day of AFL in Shanghai. Finally, a huge thanks to Andrew Sawitsch, AFL Development Officer, who has been pivotal in organising this league.

Round 2 bouncedown is Saturday 10th of April at SRFC at 12 midday, with the bus leaving the Camel at 10:30am sharp. We look forward to seeing you there in what promises to be another outstanding day of AFL in Shanghai.

Brodie McDougall
President